Post Tisha B’av Therapy

The worst part of alienation is that we become alienated from the realization that we are alienated.

Harsh Words of Rebuke After Tisha B’Av?!

A substantial portion of this week’s Parsha, Vo’eschanan, deals with Moses’ admonition of the Jewish people. In these harsh words of rebuke, Moses specifically warns them of the consequences they will face if they would not comply with G-d’s will.

Tragically, all of these dire threats materialized with the destruction of the Two Temples, the anniversary of which we observed, yesterday, Tisha b’Av. It is thus no coincidence that the Torah portion of Vo’eschanan is always read on the Shabbos that follows Tisha b’Av.

A question can be asked. If the harsh words of rebuke are intended to prevent the events that are associated with Tisha b’Av, shouldn’t the rabbis have instituted the reading of Vo’eschanan before Tisha b’av? What good is it to read about things after the fact?

Why not the Tenth of Av?

To answer this question it would serve us well to answer another basic question concerning the very scheduling of the fast on Tisha b’Av (literally, the ninth day of the Hebrew month of Av) as the national day of mourning for the destruction of the Holy Temples. The Talmud (Tractate Ta’anit) tells us that, in fact, the Temple was actually destroyed on the tenth day of the month of Av. The Romans put their torches to the building on the end of the ninth day, while the overwhelming majority of the Temple did not burn and was not destroyed until the next day.

Indeed, the Talmud there quotes Rabbi Yochanan who said that had he been alive at the time of the destruction he would have established the fast on the next day, the tenth of Av rather than on the ninth day of the month.

Why then do we observe the fast and day of mourning on the ninth?

The Talmud answers that the “beginning of a tragedy is the most difficult part of the tragedy.”

Psychological Explanation

One can explain the Talmud’s statement psychologically, as well as from a spiritual perspective.

Human nature is such that even when we are subjected to suffering, we were designed by our Creator with coping mechanisms. One of these mechanisms is the passage of time. The more time that elapses from the beginning of a tragic situation, even if the situation persists, the more acclimated we become to it and we can better “deal” with it.

Thus, we can understand that the beginning of a crises is emotionally the most devastating and shocking. Hence the fast of Tisha B’Av is observed when the Temple structure was first torched and not on the day most if it actually burnt.

The Spiritual Explanation

On a spiritual plane, this phenomenon can be explained in terms of the spiritual energy that must be unleashed to allow for events to occur.

When the Temple was built a surge of Divine energy entered the world. The Torah documents how at the time of the dedication of the Mishkan (the portable Temple the Jews built in the desert before they entered the Promised Land) a fire descended from Heaven. This fire was a physical expression of a spiritual fire that accompanied the inauguration of a new and dramatic change in the world. Even more dramatic physical manifestations of spiritual events occurred at the time of the giving of the Torah at Sinai.

Similarly, when G-d decided to remove the Temples—and all that they represented— from the world, there was a surge of Divine destructive energy that was unleashed by G-d to make it possible. Once the destructive energy is unleashed, the world experiences the most powerful blow. What follows is only the consequences of that initial surge of energy. Thus the beginning of a tragedy—is more serious than its continuation.

Exile Fatigue

If we needed any additional proof of the Talmudic thesis that the beginning of a crisis is the worst part of it, it is our existence in exile over 1900 years. Despite the continued suffering of the Jewish People that began at the time of the destruction of the Temple, we have become inured to, and complacent in, our exile existence.

And while it is part of the “coping mechanism” that we were given by G-d, we must realize that this mechanism was not given to us so that we forget that we are in exile. Rather, it was G-d’s gift to us so that we do not despair and that we can continue to live as Jews, study Torah, perform Mitzvos and pave the way for the future Redemption at which time we will see the rebuilding of the Third Temple.

Another Connection to Tisha B’Av

We can now understand why the Torah portion of Vo’eschanan—with its words of rebuke, follows Tisha B’Av.

Figuratively, “After Tisha b’Av” refers to the mindset that we acquired after having become acclimated to the conditions of exile. We no longer acutely feel the pain of alienation and the loss of closeness with G-d that was epitomized by the existence of the Holy Temples in our midst. To deal with the desensitization process that sets in with the passage of time, the Torah portion of Vo’eschanan with its tough rhetoric was provided for us to read, after Tisha b”Av. The lesson for us is that we should never make peace with the condition of exile and with all of our energy implore G-d to bring us the Redemption, imminently!

From the book Light from the Future: Parshas Voeschanan by Rabbi Heschel Greenberg, published by the Jewish Discovery Center.